Widow of Ponzi accused ‘elusive’
Liquidators dealing with East Wind fallout extend questions to dead founder’s family
Questions over the East Wind alleged Ponzi scam have spread to the family of the firm’s late founder, as liquidators try to piece together where investors’ $45 million vanished.
Auckland businessman Tom Tanaka, also known as Masatomo Ashikaga, died suddenly in February, triggering complaints from investors that would lead to liquidators being appointed.
East Wind, an unlicensed immigration and financial advisory firm, targeted Japanese nationals wanting to emigrate or invest in New Zealand.
Liquidator Tim Downes of Grant Thornton said more than 200 creditors had emerged since his appointment in April. His investigations were leading him to look at properties owned by Tanaka’s family.
Tanaka’s body was discovered by his wife, Sandy Tsai — also known as Siu Tai Tsai — who is understood to have limited English and worked for a time as a real-estate agent.
Companies Office filings show Tsai was, until February last year, a 50 per cent shareholder in the group, and she was a director of various group entities from 1996 until late 2016.
Downes said he was yet to meet Tsai, having had several scheduled meetings cancelled in recent months, and she was proving “elusive”.
“The wife is claiming she had nothing to do with the business. That doesn’t coincide with what the Companies Office records, or the transfers records in terms of significant remuneration,” Downes said.
Tsai could not be contacted by the Herald. She did not reply to letters or emails, and her listed residence in Glenfield appeared to have been abandoned for months.
That home, owned by Tanaka and Tsai, has a rateable value of $1.1m. Soon after Tanaka’s death the home was discreetly listed for sale. Downes said: “When our interest in it became apparent, it came off the market.”
Emails from Tanaka to investors translated for the Herald show that, as recently as last year, he was encouraging clients to reverse mortgage their homes to raise capital to invest in his schemes.
Tanaka’s financial web also extended outside New Zealand. Clients were advised to avoid international bank transfer fees by paying money into a Japanese bank account in the name of Japan-registered subsidiary Support New Zealand.
According to Japanese company records, Support NZ director Sandy Tsai put the company into liquidation on February 22 — a day after she found her recently estranged husband’s body on the bathroom floor of his rented Auckland apartment.
The liquidator appointed to it was Miyuku Ashikaga, who appears to be Tsai and Tanaka’s daughter, and its listed head office is a three-bedroom Tokyo apartment that, until it was sold in June, was owned by Tsai.
Police have referred complainants to the Serious Fraud Office.